UKC

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lightningpacks/hoverglide-worlds-first...

I wonder how much heavier the mechanism makes it though? 

I've never found a normal one to be an issue.  Solution looking for problem?

I would have to agree.

I have never felt the need to run with a 60L+ pack on my back.

This got discussed on here in great detail maybe a few years back. Can't help but feel if it was that great it would have taken off by now.

That pretty much sums up everything on Kickstarter

Taken off? Ahh: I get you; if a man with a floating pack jogs up and down inside  a plane on a moving runway.....

I think the inertia might catch you out on something like the Cuillin Ridge where footwork requires knowledge of the disposition and balance of your body and your load, not what it might do after a slight delay.  I think I'd go dizzy following someone with a pack like that on something like Striding Edge.

The real test - Would it work on Adam and Eve?

I've run with a large rucksack, and TBH I prefer it not moving around.

That is the whole point of this system, the rucksack would move up and down a lot less as accelerations from your upper body are muted by the suspension. If running with a pack was a common activity then these would be really popular. 

7 pounds 30l "future" pack versus any normal pack under 2 pounds? That's a clear choice 

Running with a pack is a common activity but people doing it want a pack to weigh as little as possible. That pack empty weighs not far off what some mountain marathon packs weigh fully packed!

Wonder if the Army would be interested in looking at them as they might be ideal for the way in which squaddies are expected to carry heavy loads.

I don't know enough about their needs to answer that but I do know that my mountain marathon pack weighs about 400g empty!

I think it's pretty certain that a squaddie would be carrying substantially more than you would on a mountain marathon and still be expected at times to move pretty quickly...  

I've not been shot at in a MM either.

I meant a big pack, army style

That's the point of the system.  The rucksack stays relatively level while your body moves up and down through the running movement.  So you don't expend energy moving the rucksack in the vertical plane.

It's similar to the way vehicle suspension works, letting the wheels bounce up and down to maintain contact with the road while allowing most of the mass of the car to stay level.

wercat put his finger on the problem.  If you get in a situation where the tuning of the suspension doesn't work then it could throw you off balance.   Presumably you can lock the mechanism if you see the terrain isn't appropriate.

IIRC the US military funded the original project.

I sincerely doubt it. Military kit (source: served for 4 years) for general use needs to be tough, durable & cheap.

You would have to re-tune the spring constant or dampening force every time you changed the mass of the sack - sounds like a bit of a faff.

You forgot to add damn uncomfortable as well!

When they talk about breaking in boots, what they really mean is breaking in feet!

Yes, that must be why the luckiest serviceman I knew were allowed to buy and wear their own boots*!

*) not the UK, these were army guys in the EU, but I guess it's the very same everywhere, you get what you get and if you want any better, pay for it yourself and consider yourself very lucky if the unit allows personal gear...

BTW, these bouncing backpacks were apparently proposed first for charging all the "future soldier" stuff, with linear generators for electricity instead of the bungee cords. Makes some sense, actually, although I have no idea if it worked well enough for the field.

I'm sure AKU have made things better

we met some marines on a wet windy day coming off the pass end of Crib Goch - one of them was carrying a PRC320 (something more than 30 lbs, just the set and battery without other bits)  and I'm not sure I'd have fancied that with delayed inertia in play from a bouncing sac on slippery rock!

I have seen troops on Crib Goch carrying all sorts of radios before now, much rather not have an HF radio in my bag if possible! 

I wouldn't even fancy carrying the PRC up in the first place

Not to mention a gliding pack while surfing a scree slope, downhill on steep switchbacks or just anywhere you need any sort of fine body balance.

I guess there is a reason all their promo videos only show people running on asphalt or nice straight paths in the woods...

As for military use, makes me wonder what happens when you need to stop abruptly and dive for cover? Like under fire? Your own radio bashing the rear of your helmet, knocking you out - I can just imagine the fun at field trials

There are certainly many use cases where it doesn't make sense.  However, that is true for pretty much any device.  As long as there is at least one important use case where it has advantages it can still be successful.

Many of the problems people are bringing up can easily be fixed by having a simple mechanism to lock the sliding system in place.   So if you are going on tricky ground you lock it and just have a heavier than normal backback.  When you are on suitable ground you unlock it and you benefit from the considerable energy savings of the weight remaining level.

Obviously, people would prefer to have a light rucksack, but the US military want a ton of ammo and electronics more than they want a light rucksack.  The specific issue was the weight of the batteries they needed to carry for all their electronics which is why the original backpack tried to collect energy as well.

So I'm not totally convinced it is a completely stupid idea.  Maybe not for every soldier, but for soldiers that have specific heavy equipment to carry.

they were particularly slow to adopt rechargeable battery technology - the UK started in the 60d with Larkspur and all of the later radios were based on rechargeable batteries.

During the more recent Iraq conflict the US were still using primary batteries for radios and having standardised on types for electronic equipment the demand for power by  deviced for "net-centric warfare" in its infancy they nearly ran out of batteries for radios

the pre clansman sets even heavier with a tiny fraction of the range and spectrum.  the carrying frames meant the radio landed a bit later than the operator!